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Wednesday 5th July 2006
Walked 15 miles, almost all on Offa's Dyke Path
Click here for all our photos from this walk.
We went for another walk around Redbrook before breakfast, again crossing the river by the old railway bridge. It was extremely pleasant at this time; just the right temperature. Then back for breakfast at 8.30am at the Bell Inn - enormous and slightly greasy and, given that we discovered in the middle of the meal that our bags might be collected at 9.15am, a bit of a rush. Actually this was very much to our advantage, as it meant that we were on our way by 9.10am, but I'm still not sure whether our bags were eventually moved early in the day by Dave (owner of a B&B with baths somewhere up the road) or late in the day by Keith (taxi driver).
We walked along the main road through Redbrook then cut across to the B4231 through Upper Redbrook. There is still evidence of the village's industrial past (e.g. an old colliery incline) but it is now a very pretty village. We had expected to be walking in England, so we were somewhat surprised to see all signs in Welsh as well as English, and it became clear that the country boundary ran up the middle of the road we were following, and as we forked north away from the road we went into Wales properly (so I'd missed the opportunity to photograph Gloucestershire's yellow Offa's Dyke signs - not to worry, the Gwent ones were identical apart from the county name). We climbed up a track past a Moto-X track, but this gives the wrong impression. The scenery was beautiful and we also passed sheep and horses and saw a large bird of prey (red kite?).
Eventually the track became a footpath and emerged onto the Kymin. The sun came out and although the visibility was not that good, we enjoyed looking down to Monmouth and King's Wood beyond (the Black Mountains were not visible). Most photographs of the Kymin seem to show the Round House, but the Naval Temple is also interesting if a bit odd (complete with a statue of Britannia on the top). Both the Round House and the Naval Temple were built by the 'Gentleman of the Kymin', a late 18th century dining club.
We descended steeply through Beaulieu Wood, across open land and through Garth Wood, and by the time we reached new houses on the outskirts of Monmouth (probably technically Wyesham) we could see the Round House high above us. We crossed the river and then crossed the A40 by means of an underpass; apparently the A40 is more than 700 feet (200 metres) below the Kymin, despite being less than a mile away.
We walked past Monmouth School and then down the full length of the 'historic main street', stopping to buy sandwiches at Greggs and nectarines from M&S Simply Food, before crossing the River Monnow by the gatehoused bridge. We followed 'Watery Lane' (which skirts a big housing estate not shown on the map) then crossed 'Graham's Stile' (2006) and fields with hard red soil to reach King's Wood. Apparently the path at this point used to be very boggy ('the dreaded Bailey Pitts') but there are now bridges over the worst bits. As advertised in the guidebook we saw deer tracks in the wood; we also stopped for lunch. The weather had been sticky and threatening all morning and it started to rain while we were having lunch, but it had just about stopped by the time we emerged from the wood and for the rest of the day there was just light drizzle, which wasn't a problem.
As we emerged from the wood we met a man walking the Offa's Dyke Path in the opposite direction and stopped for a brief chat; he was travelling much faster than us (he'd left his wife behind!). We also passed three youngish men and a couple walking the other way (and in the evening a couple with back packs passed 'The Hog's Head' while we were eating) - but the path was certainly not busy.
In the afternoon the path meandered across fields, orchards (growing apples for Bulmers Cider) and along country lanes; there was a bit too much road walking for my liking. We passed pretty churches at Llanvihangel-Ystern-Llewern (St Michael's of the Fiery Meteor) and, via a slight diversion, at Llantilio Crossenny (St Teilo). There was also an old moat, 'The Old Court', at Llantillio Crossenny.
We climbed up from Llantillo Crossenny to Great Treadam, not quite sure what 'The Hog's Head' would be like, but whatever we had expected, the reality was far better. It used to be a farm but had recently been converted into a pub, two self-catering cottages and a number of suites like the one we were in, with two lovely family rooms each with an ensuite shower room. The pub had opened at the end of 2005, but seven months later they were already busy; given the wonderful atmosphere and surroundings, the quality of the food and the reasonable prices (three meals for £30), it was not surprising. It had been a lot of hard work; they'd done the conversion themselves and Dale was now working behind the bar, with his father working in the kitchen and his mother handling the accommodation. They deserve their success.
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